Best Coloring Books for Cat Lovers

Growing up, my family always had tons of pets around. A half dozen cats, a dog, birds, lizards… if there was a stray or lonely animal out there, it melted my mother’s heart and my family opened up our home.

You would think that things would get a little crazy with that kind of zoo in the house, but I’m pretty sure that our dog just thought he was an overgrown feline.

All in all, I would say I’ve turned out to be more of a cat person. They’re quiet, independent, and loving (when they want to be!). Of course, they can also be a little overly involved in whatever you want to work on, but hey.

Plus, cats are kind of the superstars of the internet. What is cooler than that?

Anyway, what I’m getting to is that if you love cats, and you love coloring, cat coloring books are sort of a match made in heaven, aren’t they?

I’ve scoured Amazon for high quality coloring books about cats. A number of books did not make the cut, because I was not happy with the quality of the illustrations or they received poor reviews for other reasons (such as paper or printing quality). The books below feature a mix of realistic and more cartoonish cat coloring pages, and some with more abstract designs and patterns. I’ve also included a few upcoming releases that look promising. Click through the images to any book to see more about it, as many of these books you can preview on Amazon! As usual, I encourage you to get in touch if you come across a coloring book you think I ought to consider for the list!

As usual, I’ve included preview images for any books where they were available, and also made notes about the quality of the paper, whether the printing is single or double sided, and so on.

This popular Creative Haven coloring book has spent ages as a best selling coloring book on Amazon. It was illustrated by Marjorie Sarnat, an award winning mixed-media artist. Like several other Creative Haven books in this style by Sarnat, it features linework of cats filled with Zentangle-like patterns over their bodies, and surrounded by scenes with curly trees, hearts, flowers, butterflies, birds, and more. There are 30 pages to color total.

The pages follow different themes… there is a space-themed page, a beach-themed page, an artist page, doll page, carousel, garden, travel, guitar… most of the coloring pages in this book feature just one cat in a scene, but some have a number of cats in the same image. Some images even span the full page spread.

The detailed patternwork presents a great opportunity to get lost in the color scheme of your design, selecting colors as you go and filling in different parts of the image in corresponding colors. This is definitely on the more abstract end of the realism scale for this list, but I do love that the faces and eyes give some opportunity for realistic shading.

Like all Creative Haven books, the illustrations in this book are printed on only one side of the page. The paper is a medium weight, making it perfect for colored pencils, and great for markers or gel pens as long as you protect the following page. The pages are perforated, so you can easily detach them from the book for display.

If you are new to the adult coloring trend, or looking for a coloring book for a cat lover, this book is a great place to start, because of its proven popularity (right now, it has 5 stars on Amazon with just shy of 1500 reviews) and its adaptability for beginner or experienced colorists. Get your copy here.

The Posh Adult Coloring Books I’ve seen have been of fairly high quality, so I have high hopes for this upcoming release, illustrated by “constant doodler” Flora Chang. It features a variety of folksy designs in which cats star heavily.

Assuming this book is similar to the rest of the Posh line, the books run a little smaller than your standard adult coloring book, at about 9.5″ by 7″ (24cm by 18cm). There are over 100 pages of illustrations to color, but they are printed on both sides of relatively thin paper, so this book is not well-suited to markers. It’s perfect for colored pencils, though!

This cat coloring book is sure to make you smile. There are sixty illustrations to color of cats getting up to all kinds of silly and familiar antics, from peering impishly into a fishbowl, to walking across an abstracted piano, to curiously eyeing its reflection, to “helping” tie a tie. The style is really whimsical and will leave you charmed.

The book is a little shy of 10″ square (25cm) and pages are printed on both sides of relatively thin paper. Colored pencils are ideal for this book, or if you choose, you could scan the pages and print them individually on thicker paper to use with markers.

This is an adorable book that I featured in my list of Christmas coloring books and still highly recommend to those who love cats and the holidays. Illustrated by Jason Hamilton, these are realistically-rendered illustrations of cats getting into Christmas mischief. One cat knocks over a tree, another bats down decorations, and another makes itself at home inside a gift box.

The 24 images in this book are printed single-sided on medium weight paper that is perfect for colored pencils. You’ll want to put something behind the page you are working on if you want to color with markers. As a unique added feature, each image is also reproduced at a half page size (4×6″) in addition to the full-size version.

Because the images are drawn pretty realistically, leaving out too much shading detail on the cats themselves, you are free to shade the fur to your heart’s content. Want to fill the book with drawings of your own cat? Totally doable.

This book of cats and quilts was illustrated by the same illustrator as the previous book. If you love the quality of the illustrations in the previous book but are looking for a more all-seasons appropriate coloring book, this is the one for you!

Each cat is shown with a quilt or quilts. The cats lie across the fabric, stand perched beside quilts that are line drying, or make themselves at home in a basket of sewing supplies. The cats and quilts are left relatively un-detailed, which is perfect for beginner or advanced colorists. Beginner colorists can color the spaces with solid colors of their choice; advanced colorists can use the space to shade and texturize the fur and fabric to their hearts’ content.

Like the previous book, there are 24 images printed on just one side of medium weight paper. You will want to protect the pages below if you are coloring with a wetter medium like pens, markers, or gel pens. Like the last book, each image is also printed at the end at half size, which is a great size for framing or giving away as a gift. (Coloring a cat that looks just like grandma’s and framing it for her sounds like a really thoughtful DIY gift to me! These images are also the perfect size for a postcard…)

Mimi Vang Olsen is a beloved pet portrait painter who works in a meticulously detailed, folksy style. This coloring book gives colorists a chance to color linework reproductions of her oil paintings, like the one featured on the cover.

There are 22 images to color which are printed on just one side of the page. The paper is a bright white, medium weight paper perfect for colored pencils, but if you use markers or gel pens you will want to protect the page below.

On the front and back covers are small color reproductions of the original paintings featured in this book, so if you want to refer to the original colors they are there for reference.

The Art Therapy brand is one that is well-recognized in France. Their books typically feature a mix of scenes and designs, created by a number of illustrators. This book is no exception, including the work of five illustrators, all centered on felines.

There are nearly 100 pages of illustrations to color, printed right up to the edge of the page. There are tesselations of cats, realistic cats sitting in front of intricate wallpaper, repeated patterns of cat faces, and designs themed around cats hiding in foliage, chasing balls of string, and more. There is a huge amount of variety in this book.

The book is hardcover but lays flat. Some of the two-page illustrations spread into the spine, so you may want to remove the pages from the book to color those. One reviewer noted that these designs didn’t always print with perfect precision, so you may prefer to treat these as similar single page designs vs. a spread.

All the designs are printed double-sided. The paper is medium weight and markers will bleed through, so it is best suited for colored pencils.

This is a fun coloring book chock full of “cat therapy” that is perfect for colorists who love cats. You’ll love the variety, the unique patterns, and the adorable cats. Pick up your copy here!

This coloring book predates the current coloring craze, having been published by Dover in 2007. (Though, if my memory serves me correctly, I’m like 95% sure I had this coloring book as a kid, so there’s a pretty good chance it was originally published in the 80s.) If you are looking for realistic cats to color, though, this is the book for you.

Thirty illustrations by Ruth Soffer are arranged by breed. Some of the breeds included in the book are: Japanese Bobtail, Korat, Burmilla, Burmese, British Shorthair, Seychellois, Birman, Abyssinian, Ocicat, Tonkinese, Chartreux, Persian, Ragdoll, American Curl, American Wire Hair, Egyptian Mau, Sphynx, Javanese, Manx, Himalayan, Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest Cat, Exotic Shorthair, Somali, Turkish Angora, Siamese, and Chinchilla Persian. Each page is printed with the name of the breed and a small paragraph with information about the breed.

The images in this book are very realistic, and while they suggest some fur markings specific to the breeds featured, they mostly leave the shading up to the colorist, with a lot of wide open spaces. This is great news for some colorists who prefer to make the major decisions about shading and texture, but some colorists might find it a little intimidating.

Like all Dover Coloring Books, the images in this book are printed on both sides of the page, on a medium weight paper that is great for colored pencils and crayons but not ideal for wetter media like markers. Want to use markers? Scan the page into your computer and reprint yourself a new copy on a heavier paper.

If you love the adorably fussy face of the internet’s most famous cat, Grumpy Cat, then I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’ll probably like this coloring book, too. It is available for preorder and will be released in July 2016.

This coloring book is a tribute to Grumpy Cat, featuring 31 designs. If the cover image is any indication, it looks like the book will be somewhat similar to Creative Haven’s other cat book, Creative Cats, just a whole lot grumpier. By which I mean, line drawings of Grumpy Cat, filled in with patterns.

I don’t know a whole lot more about this one, but since it is Creative Haven, the images will be printed on just one side of the page, and will be perforated for ease of removal. The paper is a medium weight that is perfect for any kind of media, though you will want to protect the pages below if you’re coloring with something wet like markers or pens.

This coloring book is a great hybrid of fashion coloring books and cat coloring books. It features about 30 fashion-forward felines printed on one side only of medium weight paper. Many are decked out with big hipster glasses and accessories. These guys are fun and quick to color.

That said, I would consider this book best suited for a younger colorist — the drawings are really pretty simple, and colorists who like to add their own shading and coloring will be frustrated by the amount of shading already in the linework.

If you enjoy B. Kliban’s cat cartoons, you’ll love the CatColor Coloring Book. It features 22 black and white line drawing versions of his cartoons, ready for you to fill with your own colors. The original images are reproduced on the inside covers, in case you need a reference.

Some reviewers note that the heavy shading and linework in this book makes it a little hard to color, but I actually think the heaviness of the lines makes the finished, colored version really pop.

The images are printed on one side of reasonably heavy paper. Markers will still bleed through, but you can just protect the pages below with a few more sheets of paper.

I felt a little iffy about including this book, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by the quality of the original artwork I saw inside. These cats fall somewhere between realistic and cartoony, with heavier linework and sometimes overly simplistic backgrounds, but I like the scenes where these kitties are featured. One cat is featured drinking out of a fishbowl; another is sprawled across a notebook surrounded by colored pencils; and another reaches to bat at the bird it has just released from a birdcage. Overall, the scenes look like a lot of fun to color.

There are 24 illustrations printed on one side of paper that is on the thinner end of the spectrum. Gel pens and markers will bleed through, but you should be set if you just protect the next page with a few sheets of paper.

Color Cats is an indie coloring book illustrated by Margaret Gates Root. As the founder of the Feline Nutrition Foundation, Roots is passionate about cats, and I think it shows in the quality of this coloring book. This book is conspicuously labeled “book one,” so I’m going to hazard a guess that there are more to come!

This book features 32 drawings printed single-sided. Somewhat uniquely for coloring books, the book is presented entirely in landscape format, putting the binding at the top of the illustration; this is good news for you left-handed colorists.

One reviewer noted that the focus here isn’t only on the cats but on the situation — I really liked that observation. There are a ton of familiar situations here, for sure. My favorite? A Christmas illustration with three cats that are infinitely more interested in a large cardboard box than the deluxe cat tree that came inside it.

Have you ever found yourself wondering what the most reknowned pieces of classic artwork would look like starring cats instead of people? Well, now you don’t need to wonder anymore, thanks to Catsterpieces!

This book includes 26 pieces of fine art, reimagined with feline subjects. According to the artist, “You’ll find Wood’s American Gothic, Munch’s The Scream, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, and many, many more catified recreations that are based on artwork from a wide variety of renowned artists.” The pages are printed with artwork on just one side of the page; the reverse of the page includes the artist’s name and the name of the painting.

Each image is printed twice, once at full size and again at postcard size. The smaller versions make great practice for the full-size images, or color them an entirely different style!

Along the same vein as the previous coloring book, you’ll love this coloring book by the creators of Kitty Wigs. In this book, you’ll find 29 cats to color, each sporting a bedazzled wig more elaborate than the last. The pages are thin-to-medium weight, but you don’t need to worry about art on the reverse — the other side is left blank.

This gorgeous coloring book follows cats through mythical and magical places. There are a full 80 (!) pages to color, from cityscapes to underwater scenes to floral scenes and more.

The one downside? This book is printed on both sides of the page. Some reviewers remark that the medium weight paper is able to handle some kinds of markers, but you’ll want to test on the title page before coloring in the book with markers just to be sure.

This is a unique cat coloring book illustrated by Samantha Cole, and shows cats in their place throughout history, from Ancient Egypt to their role on ships and in Greek mythology, and more.

Over 30 illustrations are printed on one side of lightweight paper. Markers do bleed through, so use the perforations to remove the page you’re coloring from the book, or protect the pages behind with some extra sheets of paper. The reverse side of each sheet explains the image on the front and provides additional details.

I couldn’t get very nice sample images of this one, but it looks pretty promising! This book features a variety of cats wandering around the beautiful Italian city of Venice. The paper is a light-to-medium weight, and markers can bleed through, but fortunately it is printed on just one side of the page.

If you are looking for a more whimsical cat coloring book to color, take a look at Jo Toye’s Cat-a-Doodles Adult Coloring Book! There are 24 designs to color, and each is printed twice: once in is original format, and again in a larger, cropped format. The paper is a light-to-medium weight and markers will bleed through. However, the pages are only printed on one side, so just protect the following pages and you should be good to go!

This cat coloring book is by a Christian publisher and contains several bible quotes in the beginning. The pages are perforated and the paper is a light-to-medium weight. The publisher has not offered much information, but there are some customer sample images if you click through to Amazon.

This indie coloring book was illustrated by Lisa Stassheim and features 30 images of cats, each printed on just one side. Like some of the other books on this list, it is pretty realistic, but the heavy outlines and simple backgrounds make it feel a little less fully grounded in realism. I like the patterns in the backgrounds in a number of the images, and the predrawn markings are helpful but I can see some experienced colorists finding them annoying. In some cases, like the longhaired cat shown in the second preview image above, the predrawn markings end up making for a slightly bizarre line drawing.

Still, I think this one is worth including in this list. I especially like the care and detail the artist has devoted to the cats’ faces.

The paper is a pretty light weight and your markers or pens will bleed through. Just take care to protect the next page. This book is purrfect for pencils, though. (See what I did there?!) Click here to get a copy from Amazon!

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I am sorry to see so many of the cat coloring books that interest me are still on preorder. I wonder what has delayed the creation of these books behind those on other subjects? I have been waiting for “Cats in Paris” for over two months now. And I see I have to wait even longer for a couple of books that really interest me. I found some books in your list to contain rather uninteresting images or images that would be difficult to color. In general I look for whimsy rather than realism so that may be my bias showing. In any event, thanks so much for this list. I’ve found a few books that I may want to purchase!

Thanks for commenting, both here and to share your colored pencil find on the other page, Jeanne!

I agree, I was a little surprised when researching this post, both at how many cat-themed books there were (waaay more than coloring books about dogs) and how many are not being released anytime soon. I’m especially looking forward to Cats in Paris too! I did pass up on a number of other books about cats that I thought were just too low-quality. (One especially memorable one was almost entirely composed of black and white clip art with creepy smiling trees and giant, house-sized cats… c’est bizarre) Sorry you didn’t like all the books on my list — I was going for a good mix of realism and more playful line art! :)

As for the colored pencils you found… WOW they look nice! I LOVE the “encyclopedia” packaging… such a reverent way to think of your colored pencil collection! Don’t kill me, but I did manage to find them somewhere else for a bit cheaper :S — you could save on your last pack, at least. Here’s the set of three for about $91: http://amzn.to/1l4u4J7 (I see the individual sets as related items too)

I really am a devotee to my Caran D’Aches, but some of them are getting pretty short and I may have to check out these Tombow ones when I start running out of certain colors ;)

Did you ever figure out an organizational solution for your colored pencil collection?! I’d love to see whatever you worked out if so!